1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved seasoning apparatus for applying a viscous seasoning slurry uniformly to particulate snack food material moving in a tumbling bed.
2. Prior Art
The application of seasoning and flavoring materials to particulate snack foods while the foods are being tumbled in a tumbler drum in order to achieve a uniform coating of such foods is commonly known and widely practiced.
Typically, seasoning is applied while the food pieces are tumbling in a commercially available tumbling drum. The tumbling drum is an open-ended cylindrical rotatable drum set at an angle to a horizontal plane so that particles of material fed into the upper end of the drum will move by gravity toward the lower end of the drum and will tumble on itself while the drum is rotated. A pipe or similar distribution apparatus extending inside the drum above the level of material feeds seasoning or flavoring material which drops by gravity onto the tumbling bed of particles.
When utilizing a seasoning or flavoring which is a viscous liquid, a number of problems are encountered. Such viscous seasonings could, for example, include oil, cheese and salt such as put on Cheetos.RTM. puffed snack food products. There is a serious problem in applying the viscous liquid as a uniform coating on the food pieces as they tumble within the drum. If the seasoning or flavoring does not get uniformly distributed on the product the product quality is poor and significant amounts of product would not pass quality control tests thus resulting in economic waste. Another problem was coverage of all pieces with seasoning. In order to be assured that the seasoning is applied to all of the food particles, an excess of seasoning has been used, thus contributing to economic waste and poor quality of those particles which are overseasoned.
Previously, viscous material was dribbled out of holes in a pipe onto tumbling product and the problem of uniform distribution, although apparent, was a fact that workers in the art lived with for many years.